Talk:A Visit to Hades/@comment-25628265-20151213152454
At work yesterday I watched a rare viewing of my old beloved show, which is very rare nowadays. In honor of this episode just celebrating the forty-ninth anniversary of its very first airing on CBS Television on Wednesday, December 7, 1966, I watched "A Visit To Hades." Although this one is much closer to the bottom of the season for me, I must say I enjoyed it quite well, as I always do. I am now enjoying this one much more again, like I did back in my younger, good old days in the 1970s and the 1980s. Somewhere along the line in the 1990s, this episode fell out of favor with me somewhat. Sure, it is not one of the better episodes, but it is extremely fun (like all of them), and it is a very clever storyline like Carey Wilber always writes. It is obviously played similar to the more humorous stories surrounding it in the recent trend of the series run, following the episodes "The Thief From Outer Space," "Curse Of Cousin Smith," and "West Of Mars." After this one, the series will begin a relatively short spell of turning to more serious scripts again. Anyway, "A Visit To Hades" is very fun and enjoyable. Don Richardson, the most prolific director for the series, was the man here. Guest star Gerald Mohr was extremely good and witty in his role. I know one fan who ranks this one as her very favorite episode of the season. The reason is obvious..she is very attracted to actor Gerald Mohr. I suppose he was definitely a dashing-looking actor. He looks very tall and slim as well. I guess one of my biggest drawbacks about this episode for me always was the background incidental music scores. Some of it I am not too fond of. Some of it is that more silly-type music. Although as always it was perfectly fitted for the style of episode it was..that is, a more LiS Lite/more humor type episode. The other biggest drawbacks (really the only ones) are a couple cringe worthy sort of embarrassing moments and scenes. First and foremost would be the Judy Robinson ("women crying") tantrum scene in Morbus' prison. In the line of the story though, it actually fit well. Earlier on, Judy had commented to her mother that she was not a child anymore. The scene, therefore, is ironic, showing us that Miss Judy may not be as grown up as she thinks. The other embarrassing thing is that fake dragon-looking head in the cave that growls at Dr. Smith and Major West. Oh well, it was a good plot device leading into one of the commercial breaks. Slightly less embarrassing, but highly funny, is the bit early on where Mr. Morbus shows Dr. Smith scenes of his childhood and his youth lol. Overall, it is classic and clever LOST IN SPACE, and a lovely second season staple. This is why I love, love, love Season Two much more than the average fan. The series was still down-home, simple and loveable. There was still great family values and scenes, and it was still much closer to the original look of the early B&W episodes. Penny and William were younger still, and the younger they were, the better I liked it..not that Penny appeared hardly at all in this one. Penny will have her fill of screen time quite well in the following three episodes.. :-]